Monday, August 27, 2012 Minter Gardens Chilliwack, BC

Today we visited Minter Gardens, 60 miles east of Vancouver, in Chilliwack, BC.  This display garden is 32 acres and theme gardens.  The Minters discovered the site in 1977, set out on a massive planting program, and opened to the public in 1980.  There are two restaurants on the property and it has banquet, wedding, and reception facilities.  If you see any plants you like, you can buy them at their garden centre (18 acres).  The first photo is of me helping this fellow trim the tree.

Oh, if you don't like flowers, skip this post.  I can't help it; I took lots of pictures.

The rose garden was fantastic.  I don't think there was a spent bloom anywhere.  There were thousands of flowers, and you could see thousands of new blossoms too.  To get that level of blooms, you have to do all the right things daily/hourly.

What a beautiful colored rose!

Connie loved the ride on this turtle.

Planning a wedding?  What a setting!  The grass was just about perfect.  In 32 acres I saw a couple small patches of clover.  I wish I could say that about our lawn back home.

There were lots of water, ponds, and bridges.

We arrived at 9:30 A.M. and didn't leave until 2:00 P.M..  Did I mention a restaurant?  Connie said it was a great wrap and I had the fish and chips.

Every garden has a section on Asian gardening.  Here's a sample of some bonsai.

There were thousands of dahlias throughout the garden.  The climate here is cold enough that all the  dahlias/tubors have to be dug and stored during the winter.



Here's a floral peacock.

This photo shows a drift of hydrangias  moving up the hillside.  We struggle with hydrangias, and they seem to grow so effortlesslly here.

The photo above is a water wall  in one area in the garden.  To the right is a photo of the woodland garden. 

 

Connie is standing by this beautiful little cottage with an operating water wheel.

Everything smells great.  The roses were the best and this hanging basket had a great scent too.

Tomorrow we are going to cross the border back into the USA.  Tomorrow we will have cell phone service again, we hope.